FreeDV 2.3.1 has been released, including improved audio quality for those running the Flex waveform and other bug fixes. It can be downloaded using the following links:

* Windows (most PCs)
* Windows on ARM
* Linux AppImage (for Intel and AMD PCs)
* Linux AppImage (for ARM systems, e.g. Raspberry Pi 5+)
* Linux AppImage for FlexRadio support (needs Raspberry Pi 4 or newer)
* FlexRadio Docker container (Flex 8000/Aurora series)
* macOS

More information about this release can be found on the GitHub release page.

This year, Mel Whitten (K0PFX) and Walter Holmes (K5WH) manned the FreeDV booth at its normal location in Building 1. Booth traffic was heavy throughout the weekend, keeping both busy answering questions about FreeDV and demonstrating RADE live over the air via remote connections to their respective radios.

Additionally, Flex users flocked to the booth wanting to know more about the Flex Waveform-Docker implementation. With the Waveform running on Walter’s remote Flex, “seeing is believing” so it made a good demonstration. On top of that, additional radio software developers came by and mentioned they had already added RADE into their application, or it was being added right away.

As Mooneer (K6AQ) was unable to attend this year, we had a new presenter, JJ, KG4VCF in the Digital Modes forum. JJ’s presentation was an in depth guide on how to set up and use FreeDV’s RADE to achieve “Great Audio and Smooth Digital Voice.” And it did just that describing what RADE digital voice does and why it sounds better. His use of professional level graphics and accompanied voice sound bytes garnered attention from the attendees. A larger meeting room was granted this year for the forum filling it to near capacity indicating RADE is gaining a foothold in HF communications.

Demonstrating RADE continues to show that for the user to have significant interest in using the mode, the top three priorities are: 1 – Perceived good voice quality, 2 – “Wow” factor of robustness over SSB and 3 – Ease of set up and use. FreeDV is quickly proving to the wider amateur radio community that RADE excels in all three priorities, with further improvements in all three as work continues.

We’ll soon be kicking off a RADE V2 crowd sourced test campaign, where Hams from outside the FreeDV development team can test RADE V2 and submit samples. To get started, the RADE README has draft instructions on what tests would be most useful to help RADE development. If you are interested in integrated RADE into you application or radio, here is a draft verification procedure. We are happy to work with you improve these procedures, so please feel free to ask any question below or in a GitHub issue on the RADE repo.

FreeDV 2.3.0 has just been released, and with this comes the ability to upload FreeDV to your Flex 8000 or Aurora series radio using the Docker container feature that is new with SmartSDR 4.2.18. This allows you to use FreeDV with your Flex radio in a manner similar to what you would do with regular USB or LSB modes; no need to set up DAX or CAT with the FreeDV application (though you still can do so if you’d like).

To get started, download the Docker container from here and follow the instructions over in the README. (In short, go to Tools->Waveforms in SmartSDR, make sure Docker is selected and install the downloaded file from the first link; after a bit you’ll be able to select FDVU or FDVL modes on your active transmit slice and begin operating.) The FreeDV FlexRadio integration also includes support for FreeDV Reporter, which means you’ll be able to spot FreeDV signals that you receive over the air and get a live view of what’s currently happening in FreeDV.

This is an exciting development that helps propel us closer to our goal of getting FreeDV embedded within radios (which is a big part of the ARDC grant we received). Hope to hear you on the air on FreeDV!

(BTW for those with a 6000 series radio, you can set this up with a spare Raspberry Pi 4 or newer. More information in the README above.)

FreeDV 2.3.0 has been released, including support for running it directly on a compatible Flex 8000 or Aurora series radio, enhancements to performance (thanks to the removal of Python) as well as improvements to FreeDV Reporter filtering functionality and other bug fixes. It can be downloaded using the following links:

• Windows:
  • Intel/AMD PCs (most users)
  • Windows on ARM (e.g. machines with Qualcomm chips)
• Linux AppImage (for Intel and AMD PCs)
• Linux AppImage (for ARM systems, e.g. Raspberry Pi 5+)
• Linux AppImage for FlexRadio support (needs Raspberry Pi 4 or newer)
• FlexRadio Docker container for direct upload to Flex 8000 or Aurora series
• macOS

More information about this release can be found on GitHub release page.

This past month, the following FreeDV feature enhancements and bugs were worked on (numbers next to each item are pull request IDs from here):

• Fix bugs related to display of Mic/Speaker Level slider. (#1281)
• macOS: Fix bug causing main window’s menu to disappear when Reporter is displayed. (#1282)
• Remove Speex in favor of RNNoise. (#1276)
• Flex: Prevent multiple slices from being in FreeDV mode. (#1270)
• FreeDV Reporter: Add ability to filter based on individual columns. (#1285)
• Add green frequency indicator for RADE. (#1283)
• Implement proposed fixes to reduce dropouts. (#1287)
• Refactor sample rate logic so that it’s in only one location. (#1286)
• FreeDV Reporter: Fix inability to use mouse wheel on Msg column. (#1289)
• Log heard callsigns to a CSV file. (#1290)
• Fix sudden compilation errors related to Opus. (#1299)
• Add ability to load and save different FreeDV configurations (#1296)
• Reenable Windows on ARM builds for FreeDV. (#1297)
• Ensure that CSV file logging feature uses XDG paths. (#1293)
• Logging: fix incorrect time when using UTC due to DST.
• Windows: Fix test failures (#1300)
• Easy Setup: Also emit audio tone through speakers. (#1303)
• Ensure that PTT is actually off when opening Hamlib connection. (#1308)
• Easy Setup: Prepare for SmartSDR 4.2. (#1306)
• Use r8brain for audio resampling to improve performance. (#1307)
• Update FlexRadio waveform documentation for SmartSDR 4.2. (#1311)
• Hamlib: Add options to force RTS and DTR on. (#1292)
• Enable use of remote USB token for signing automated Windows builds. (#1312)
• Update Hamlib to 4.7.1. (#1314)

I didn’t get to spend a lot of time on FreeDV development this month, but as with other members of the team, I tried out Claude Code for some of the new features being added and it’s definitely been a help in at least getting the basics going for a feature. I’d say it probably gets around 80-90% of the way there on its own and needs my help for the last 10-20%, if nothing else to make sure what it generated is sufficient before merging.

One big thing I worked on near the end of the month was automating the generation of signed Windows builds. This was done by setting up a SSH tunnel to a server here with the USB token we received from the certificate authority and using a tool called pkcs11-proxy to expose it over the tunnel. A big advantage of this is that it allowed us to continue using the same tools for actual code signing as before (mainly osslsigncode) versus switching to something such as Azure Artifact Signing. We’ll likely end up going that route or something similar at some point due to changes in how code signing works on Windows, but we have a few years before we have to start moving in that direction.

Another huge thing that’s happened is that FlexRadio released SmartSDR 4.2, finally enabling the ability to effectively embed FreeDV into compatible Flex 8000 and Aurora series radios. Several early testers are now using this with great results and we hope to be able to get this out to the wider community soon with FreeDV 2.3.0’s upcoming release. Stay tuned!

More information can be found in the commit history below:

• freedv-gui

(Note that all commit logs above were generated with the following command line:)

git log --author="member@email" --after "Month 1, 2026" --before "Month 31, 2026 23:59:59" --all

This month I worked on:

• Re-planning RADE V2 development. I updated a live project planning document with current status and next steps, including an outline for test, release, and ways to gather useful feedback from release. This is worth consideration as in general feedback from end users is from ad-hoc testing and anecdotes, which limits it’s value. Adding some structure and guidelines to the test results we seek could greatly improve it’s value.
• Further work and completion of the FreeDV-060 RADE V2 Test Report. Most algorithms have now been developed, and tested in simulation and with stored file over the air tests, with good results. The exception is streaming text support, which requires an external library to be written for framing and FEC.
• The FreeDV project was invited to write an article for QST Magazine on RADE. I worked with a representative of the ARRL to set the technical scope and decide on figure formats, then wrote and submitted the article which is currently under review.
• Documentation and review of key RADE V2 algorithms. There is quite a lot of new work in V2 that was complex and difficult to develop. Documentation is also a useful way to self-review.
• Planning around resolving our disparate FreeDV source code and document repositories,, which have multiplied at a rapid pace over the last few years. The general idea is to reconcile these to a single repository. Also a good opportunity for a spring clean.
• Merging the large RADE V2 PR into the RADE main branch, in the process catching a subtle bug that had been lurking in the Python code for 12 months with the help of Claude. We now have RADE V1 implemented in Python and C; this bug was found by reconciling the test results between the SNR estimators of the two implementations. Catching bugs is a hidden benefit of implementation in two languages. I also pulled on a few threads (such as checking the band pass filter implementations) that resulted in further verification of the V1 C Port.

In  HF data news, Rhizomatica are now using the FreeDV data modes combined with their own custom ARQ protocol to send data over low SNR HF channels. This is a pleasing outcome from the HF data work package (WP6000) of our ARDC grant, where we developed several new HF data waveforms in conjunction with the FreeDATA developers. Great to see another project embracing those waveforms, and spreading the use of open source in HF Data.